Maryland held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for the $466 million Howard Street Tunnel expansion project, which will reconstruct a 126-year-old freight rail tunnel to accommodate double-stacked container trains to and from the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore.
“Today, as we kick off reconstruction of this Howard Street Tunnel, we are proving once again that investing in infrastructure is critical to our state and national economies and to the lives of everyday Marylanders and Americans,” Gov. Larry Hogan said at the event. “This is a continuation of our concerted efforts to make the Port of Baltimore much more competitive with other ports for the extremely sought after containerized cargo market. It is an absolute game-changer, not just for Maryland, but for the entire region.”
The project will reconstruct 22 locations between Baltimore and Philadelphia to provide an additional 18 inches of clearance, and three bridges will be either modified or replaced.
Double stacking is where two shipping containers are stacked and transported on top of each other.
CSX owns the tunnel and provided $113 million in funding. Maryland provided $202.5 million, Pennsylvania provided $22.5 million, federal highway formula funding provided $3 million, and $125 million came in the form of a federal grant.